I'm curious as to how easement works in Missouri... To be more particular... On the Current River... I found a map of all the easement near and around the Montauk State Park... But I'm more interested in the smallies down there... and access to the lower parts of the Current... It looks as if the Current runs through a lot of state land... Does this mean all that river is publicly accessible? Are there any resources for finding access for smallmouth fishing? Also how wade-able is the Current?

Probably heading that way this summer and seems this one river will cover all my needs....

Upper current is definitly trout water, lower is best for smallies. The upper is right around Montauk and thats pretty much all trout there. Been fishing that area for a long time now and havent even seen a single smallie. You need to go much further down river to start finding smallies, the browns get too big and angry and eat all the small fish there. Any piece of water running thru state land is good to go. Knock your self out. For finding access points you can check out the MDC's website ( mdc.mo.gov ), you can go register or read thru the posts at forums.ozarkanglers.com and gather lots of info. You can wade it but you will have a much more enjoyable time on that section in a driftboat or a canoe.

Ozarkanglers.com is definitely worth a look. Also, missouritrouthunter.com has a good description of the trout sections of the Current. That would help you pinpoint where to start looking for smallies.

I understand there's an aluminim hatch on that river. You might want to time your visit to avoid it. I've not seen it myself, but it might be something to investigate as you plan your trip.

Much of the Current from Montauk to about halfway between Van Buren and Doniphan is part of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways, and all the land within the Riverways is owned by the federal government (National Park Service). So anywhere you can get to it, you can wade and walk the banks to your heart's content. It is not, however, wader friendly below Akers Ferry. The trout sections, from Montauk down to Akers, are wadeable most of the time. And by the way, there are a few smallmouth below Ashley Creek a few miles downstream from Baptist Camp Access, and they get a little more common below Cedargrove. But really, they aren't numerous enough to furnish consistent fishing until you get to Round Spring. The smallmouth sections of the Current are too big to be easily wadeable.

The river downstream from Cedargrove gets a LOT of canoe and kayak use during the warm weather months, and below Round Spring, you'll encounter a lot of jetboats on warm weather weekends. On the lower river below Van Buren, the river can be crazy with high speed jetboats. It's big water down there.

If it's smallmouth you want, however, there are other choices nearby. The Jacks Fork is also a part of the Riverways, and is a nice smallmouth stream, with much of it wadeable in the low summer water levels. There are also interesting, if remote, smallmouth possibilities in some of the smaller Current River tributaries, but you'll have to research it yourself, since I'm not too keen on publicizing such fragile waters.

As for Missouri stream access laws, basically, if it's floatable by canoe you can legally wade it as well as long as you get on it at a public access. If it's too small to float, you cannot legally wade it if a landowner doesn't want you to. Many wadeable streams are still "open", simply because the landowners haven't yet decided to keep people off them. The landowner owns the banks and stream bottom, but on floatable streams, court cases have affirmed a public right to use the stream for floating, wading, and even camping on gravel bars.